


Explosive Revelation

by Bananatron



Series: Daily Writing Challenge [2]
Category: Magic: The Gathering (Card Game)
Genre: Gen, Minor Character Death, Origin Story, Serious Injuries, Technobabble, Tragedy, but described very indirectly, but magic, magibabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26689306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bananatron/pseuds/Bananatron
Summary: Like most planeswalkers, Dovin Baan's spark was ignited by tragedy.
Series: Daily Writing Challenge [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940713
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Explosive Revelation

**Author's Note:**

> To those of you wondering about my challenge: I partially cheated. This is an old, old draft I had lying around, which I just now finished and tidied up. That's right, the wheels started falling off on _day 2_.

(wrongwrongwrong)

The worst part, Dovin thought, was how frequently his talents and desires interfered with each other.

He knew, for instance, that the prototypes for this "gearhulk" project were flawed due to resonant interference between the backup capacitors. He knew that the materials for the protective plating would, given enough time, buckle from the additional strain, causing structural weakness. He knew that this weakness would lead to frailty around the right hip, causing a collapse if the gearhulk ran at excessive speed. He knew all of this already, but his brain insisted on telling him, again and again. The irony of this inefficient repetition did not escape him.

"Inspector Baan, sir? You've been staring at the capacitors for a while now." That was the person who called him over, Laabh or Labhu or something like that. Dovin hadn't yet informed him of the flaws, as attempting to solve the problem with incomplete information would have caused further issues (wrongwrong). But now he was (wrong) worried, likely leading to further (wrong) decreases in efficiency, and would also force him to explain more. The problem was that there was still something missing, because as far as he could tell there wasn't any reason why the capacitors should be behaving in this way. For lack (wrongwrongwrong) of a better option, he turned to his companion. "Would you mind reminding me how the energy travels through the secondary capacitors?" he asked, trying not to focus on... Labid?... and the tools stowed about his person at random where he would struggle to reach them (wrong). Fortunately, the opportunity to speak about the marvelous invention was enough to reassure the enthusiastic human, who almost immediately launched into an frantic explanation of his prototype.

"Ah! Well, after the aerosolized aether is exposed to the platinum-alloy meshwork, it travels through the iron mana prism into the main battery. The prism's rotation generates a continual alternating current, which-" (wrongwrongwrong) (the man was explaining the wrong things) "-ah, but that's not what you asked." (had he been frowning?) "As I was going to say, the prism refracts a continual low-frequency energy outwards, which rather than simply dispersing or containing, we collect using the electrum plating and divert into the primary capacitors, which would release periodic pulses through the system, but that would risk dispersing or destabilizing the main stored charge, so instead we route it through the secondary capacitor battery, which releases a series of smaller pulses, which in turn generates flux in a more stable way."

As fascinating as the concept was, Dovin was focused, barely paying attention to the many fascinating parts of it that worked correctly. "The electrum plating has the wrong ratio; too much gold, not enough silver" he heard himself say absently, observing the capacitor battery (wrong) in more and more exacting detail, attempting to pinpoint the exact flaw as he traced the flow of logic. There appeared to be some level of backflow from the main battery as the secondary capacitors released, but proper safeguards existed to contain and even recycle as much of that as possible back into the ferrous alloy release valves. Dovin could feel himself starting to get a headache. He drummed his fingers together, feigning an understanding he lacked as he attempted to calm and focus himself. As his stress rose he paradoxically found himself more and more carefully observing the world around him with a critical lens--the sealing between the tiles on the floor (wrongwrong), the glass through which the sunlight shone into the laboratory (wrong), the notes which were written about the inventor's progress (wrongwrongwrong), the horselike automaton he had rode to get here (wrongwrong), the dust accumulating in the corners of the room (wrongwrongwrong) the clothing he wore (wrongwrong) the fabric (wrong) the (wrong) the (wrongwrong) (wrongwrongwrong) (wrong) (wrongwrongwrong) ---

Himself.

(wrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrong)

No matter how much he focused, how finely he tuned his magic to improve his senses or his intuition to find flaws, there was always an inefficiency hanging over him like a dark cloud, a sense of unused potential. Wasn't that the great paradox of life? Ever since he had been a child, he had always been acutely aware-the greater one's natural talents, the more potential they risk selfishly wasting, the harder they must work to use them. And Dovin had always been a talented child.

No. Focus.

The secondary capacitor backlink. That was the problem. As he ran his fingers over the metals, honing his sense of touch, he felt the flaw more and more strongly. The aerosolized aether wouldn't all react off immediately, would it? Some of the actual vapor would make it into the battery, would hit the pulses directly, where--what? What would happen? He didn't know. He didn't know if anyone knew. 

Well. In order to fix a flaw, one must first determine its exact nature. "Run aether directly through the secondary capacitor," he ordered, hoping his voice did not betray his anxiety. At the human's quizzical look, though, he had no choice but to admit, "I am not entirely certain as to the consequences of continuous full-power flow through the secondary capacitors."

The inventor froze up. "I... most of the tests so far have used the entire joint-capacitor assembly. I hadn't considered the consequences of full power flux through the secondaries." He reached over, connected a few hoses onto the components, and reached to turn the spigot.

As the aether flowed, Dovin redirected his energies--first to his sense of sight (fortunately, there was no visible disruption), then hearing (which revealed a worrying hum). Then, he drew it away from his physical senses entirely, instead focusing to feel the flow of aether directly. As he had worried, there appeared to be aerosolized aether within the battery chamber, which was resonating with the energy pulses. That resonance was causing the gas to vibrate, leading to the hum he had worried about. Well. A simple problem, to be sure; all that would need to be done would be to attach a membrane to filter out the aether before it entered the battery housing.

(wrong)

Peculiar. The membrane wouldn't be totally effective, but it _was_ the best way to prevent contamination while still permitting energy flow. But... that wouldn't solve the problem? He honed his senses further, to closer observe the capacitor--

\--and realized, abruptly, that the closer he looked, the stronger the flow seemed. _The capacitor was reacting to his observation._ Of course this wouldn't show up in lab tests; most of them were run "clean", to more directly pinpoint flaws, but in practical usage it would be unreasonable to expect those sorts of conditions. Whatever was going on in there, it was accumulating stray magic to further strengthen itself. He would need to shield it, then, or perhaps put sinks or vents into the system. The exact solution would of course depend on the efficiency rate of the uptake, which appeared to be--he did some quick mental math--124%?

Dovin Baan, in that very moment, felt three separate emotions in very rapid succession. First was elation; even if it was unstable or difficult to access, a new source of power generation had been discovered. Second was confusion; where was this energy _coming_ from? It wasn't just being generated, it was being pulled seemingly from nowhere. Of course he couldn't have expected to predict an interaction when it contradicted all the standard models! Whatever was happening here, it could even be able explain the changes in the Great Cycle. His mind was racing with the possibilities, when the third emotion struck him.

The third emotion Dovin Baan felt in that moment was fear. An unknown reaction was producing escalating amounts of energy... _within a sealed chamber_. Spinning away from the device, releasing his enchantments, he began to shout "Shut down the--"

His sentence was interrupted by the explosion.

It is often said that, in moments of mortal danger, time appears to slow. For the first time in his life, Dovin experienced this process firsthand. At first, the cables attached to the capacitor ruptured, as the back-pressure broke the seal connecting them to the assembly. Then, the cracks formed in the casing itself, splitting open like an eggshell. Metal shards flung themselves outward, less shattered than torn away, and flew through the air almost languidly. One embedded itself into the wall, vibrating slightly. Another flew by Dovin's neck, and belatedly he noticed the blood flowing from the thin cut it had left, and then the pain it had caused. Another drove itself into the table, going slightly less than halfway through before embedding itself. The next one Dovin tried to catch, but it was like moving through molasses, and even at its lazy pace Dovin was unable to stop its trajectory directly into Labid's flank. (That was his name, Dovin suddenly remembered. Perhaps, knowing it could not prevent the tragedy in motion, his mind turned to other pursuits?)

Then, behind the metal, a wave of energy itself swept out through the room. It scoured its way across the walls and floor, sanding them to a perfect sheen, then tearing particles off. It melted the metal fragment of the casing into the table it had embedded itself in. It struck Labid, just beginning to stumble from the pain he had suffered; detachedly, as though through a telescope, Dovin observed the novel interaction this strange reaction appeared to have with living flesh, and abandoned his attempts to assess Labid's injuries in preparation for applying first aid in favor of hoping that what he had witnessed was not painful. Then the wave struck him, and sent him flying in a direction he did not know existed.

He fell, or perhaps flew, or perhaps walked. All of those were adjectives for moving in standard directions, and none of them applied to the path Dovin Baan felt himself taking. He _unfolded_ his way through this space. At some point he became aware of this motion, and gained some sense that he could, perhaps, direct it; but he was not yet in control, and so the world opened itself around him until, abruptly, he found himself on a beach.

He was brought to his senses by the cries of birds, all of them subtly unlike any he knew. He looked out over a vast sea, and then up at the clouds, all of them white and fluffy and perfectly, disconcertingly, round. Was he hallucinating from the blast? Or had he somehow found himself flung to an uncanny place the Great Cycle did not touch? That was impossible; the Great Cycle was _everywhere_ \--

No, he abruptly realized, he needed to examine his priors. The Great Cycle was everywhere _on Kaladesh_. But, evidently, it didn't shape the clouds here. Conclusion: he was not on Kaladesh.

...Conclusion: there were places which were not Kaladesh. His mind reeled with the implications. Was there just this one strange place? Or a countless number? He had to assume the latter; uniqueness was vanishingly rare. Which, of course, would imply that others had also traveled in this way. Perhaps, even, of their own volition; he was now eternally, uncannily aware of the direction in which he moved. With a growing sense of awe, he mentally reached in that direction, felt the edges of his body begin to tessellate, and then stepped back onto that beach. Then, buoyed by this strange new ability, he became aware of an abrupt silence.

He mentally assessed himself again, just to be sure--but, no. The sense that he had some great, untouched potential, of which he knew nothing, had disappeared. It was as though a limb he didn't know he had had just, suddenly, slipped itself back into its socket.

With a growing sense of indescribably bittersweet emotion, he reached back, in the direction he came from, and then that lonely beach was barren once more.

**Author's Note:**

> Dovin Baan is really just an interesting character to me. His powers are really best suited to sabotage, but he instead uses them to improve things. He wants to make the world better, but his powers don't help him with that, so he makes various systems more efficient instead as a good proxy. He seeks to strengthen authority so that it can be used to enforce a better world, but his efforts are again and again turned to the gain of greedy and selfish rulers and officials. To quote Jenna Moran, in _The Glass-Maker's Dragon_ :  
> \-- "He is almost all superego; little ego, little id. He is constantly striving to do right; but he has the wrong mix of pieces in his mind to know what the right thing is."
> 
> His entire life is really defined by cruel irony in so many ways, and I just really feel for him. Dovin Baan deserved better, is all I'm saying.


End file.
